Jul 3, 2014

One of the mobile phones that Sony Mobile has been long rumored to plan on making official before the end of this year is the Sony Xperia Z3, which might be announced in September as the company’s next flagship handset.

The phone hasn’t been officially confirmed as of now, yet it seems that it will arrive on shelves with high-end capabilities packed inside, just as anyone would expect from such as device. However, it seems that it might not include the latest Qualcomm processor out there, as a leaked screenshot supposedly coming from the device shows it as being powered by a Snapdragon 801 CPU. In case you’ve been living under a rock for the past half a year or so, you should know that mobile phone makers out there have already released smartphones powered by Qualcomm’s newer Snapdragon 805 processor, and that this chipset was also rumored to be added to Xperia Z3 at some point.

Said screenshot, available courtesy of XperiaBlog, allegedly comes from a Sony handset that sports model number D6653, and clearly shows off the Snapdragon 801 MSM8974-AC chipset as being included in it. Moreover, the shot apparently confirms that Sony will pack the device only with a full HD touchscreen display, although some might have been expecting it to land on shelves with a Quad HD panel on the front. However, the smartphone appears to be running under the Android 4.4.4 KitKat operating system, with its firmware featuring build number 23.1.X.XXX, and the 3.4 kernel.

Only yesterday, info on the hardware specs of a possible Xperia Z3 Compact smartphone emerged online, mentioning the same Snapdragon 801 processor, which suggests that the new leaked info on the Xperia Z3 might actually pan out. However, with no official confirmation on the specs of Xperia Z3 (and Xperia Z3 Compact, for that matter), we’ll take the info above with a grain of salt for the time being. Sony has already confirmed that it will release a new high-end Android-based smartphone this fall, as it is planning the release of one such device every six months, which means that Xperia Z3 is almost certainly the phone to be looking for next from the vendor. What remains to be seen, however, is whether the mobile phone maker will release it with specs in line with those of other high-end smartphones out there, or it will try to up the ante a bit, thus making its device more appealing. Stay tuned for more on the matter.